Born: 1525, Italy
Died: 7 December 1583
Country most active: Turkey
Also known as: Cecilia Venier-Baffo, Rachel, نور بانو سلطان
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
It would be 40 years after her death that another valide sultan claimed the title in 1574: Nurbanu Sultan, mother of Murad II and haseki to Hafsa’s grandson Selim II. Captured and enslaved at 12 in her native Venice, Nurbanu rose from concubine to head of the harem of Selim II and was said to be “extremely well loved and honored by His Majesty both for her great beauty and for being unusually intelligent.” Born circa 1525, she would have been approaching 50 when Selim died and Murad took the throne. Having advised Selim for years, Nurbanu acted quickly to ensure the transition when he died. As mentioned, princely heirs would rule provinces as training to become sultan—meaning Murad was not in the capital when his father died. Nurbanu concealed Selim’s death to give her son time to get to the capital, hiding Selim’s body in an icebox.
She was so influential during Murad’s reign that one ambassador remarked, “all good and all bad come from the queen mother.” She corresponded with Catherine de Medici, building a relationship between France and the Ottoman Empire, and commissioned the Atik Valide Mosque, which still stands in Istanbul. The complex included the mosque, a religious college, a primary school, a literacy school for the illiterate, a dervish convent, and a hospital. There was also a large public complex for travelers and those without homes, consisting of two hostels, small, heated rooms where visitors could rest or eat, a refectory, a soup kitchen, a storehouse, and other attendant structures. A public bath was nearby, with its income contributing to the maintenance of the mosque and its affiliated facilities. She also reputedly had the grand vizier removed and replaced with an ally, consolidating power with the sultan’s two most trusted advisors: his mother and his grand vizier.
When she died in 1583, the Venetian ambassador observed,
Some are saddened by this lady’s death and others consoled, each according to his or her own interests, for just as she provided enormous benefits to many as a result of the great authority she enjoyed with her son, so conversely did she deprive others of the hopes of obtaining what they desired. But all universally admit that she was a woman of the utmost goodness, courage, and wisdom.